Sydney Lee is Headed to Columbia University| Sydney Lee将前往哥伦比亚大学

We had the opportunity to interview our Year 13 student, Sydney Lee, who took time from her busy schedule to chat to us about her school career, especially now that she is headed to one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in the world, Colombia University to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree.

Living Abroad

Similar to some of her YCIS Beijing schoolmates, Sydney’s eventual settling in Beijing involved a journey which included calling numerous countries home - in her case the United States, a transition period in South Korea, the Philippines, and for the past six years China. Although she does not have memories of her time in the United States as she left when she was just two years old, she attributes the Philippines to her appreciation for nature and the urban city culture due to the juxtaposition between the two.

“There were a lot of opportunities for me to develop an interest in the things surrounding me and also an opportunity to receive an international school education” she shared.

An Open-minded Global Citizen

Her experience of living abroad from the age of four established the American born Korean student as a curious and open-minded individual she has grown to be. “my experience of living in a variety of countries has given me the ability to be very open-minded to try different things. It has also allowed me a unique perspective where I am easily able to acknowledge and accept differences in different people and cultures."

Campus Life Memories

Her expatriate status could also be one of the reasons the ambivert has been able to associate with her classmates whom she believes would describe her as “calm, inquisitive and studious”.  These are the same classmates she has been able to create memories with throughout her time here. “I remember my first day of school at YCIS Beijing because it was such a big change” Sydney recalled. This was the first move she remembered as the others were undertaken when she was still a young girl. What stood out for her during this moment was meeting fellow learners from different countries, which contrasted her previous school experience where students tended to attend the same institution from the first grade to the last.

Although that was one of her most memorable experiences, it also came with the downfall of having to say goodbye to friends after a while.

Another memory Sydney will have etched in her mind is when she was a Student Ambassador during an Open Day. During the visit, she participated by giving a tour of our campus and facilities to prospective parents and sharing with them why she enjoys being a student at YCIS Beijing. A proud moment for the art aficionado.

A Creative Mind

Art in its entirety is Sydney’s passion and calling, therefore, having the opportunity to display her work in a gallery was noteworthy.  “When I was in Year 12. I got to exhibit one of my painting for the first time in a “real” gallery.” The gallery in reference is M Woods, an independent, non-profit art museum situated in the Beijing art hub, 798 Art District. This was a moment worth patting herself on the back for.

“I have the drive to create artwork and place value in the act of having the audience interact with whatever art piece that I’m creating” she expounds.

This was not the first time Sydney’s artwork was on display. In 2018 she had her artwork on the cover of INKBEAT Youth Journal – a literary journal that celebrates the writing and art of students in the Beijing area with her classmate, Amy Yin. For that edition, she explains that “what initially inspired the artwork was the complexity of human facial expressions. Personally, humans are my favourite subject to work with, as I have always been deeply interested in the way that we work and function” which may be why one of her favourite subjects is Biology.

Active Advocate 

Part of her love for the subject and advocacy also led her to her involvement in the Period Project which seeks to fundraise and raise awareness about period poverty which affects disenfranchised girls in rural China. After the introduction of the concept a few years ago, Sydney and some of her colleagues decided to take over the project and serve the community. “Students at our school have a level of privilege that we should recognize and there are girls who are in much less privileged positions that we decided we would like to support.”   expressed the future donor.

Her involvement extends to the Student Leadership, where she was a member since Year 9 and later became a Co-Executive. During her tenure, they relaunched the YCIS BJ Film Festival, got involved with charity work and even collaborated with the Parent Organisation in organizing the Christmas Bazaar.

The Journey to Colombia

All the above-mentioned activities in addition to her academic competencies undeniably contributed to her acceptance to Columbia University, a private Ivy League research university in New York City which boasts prominent figures such as Elaine Chao, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Neil deGrasse Tyson amongst others as their alumni.

About her decision to choose the Big Apple based institution Sydney said “the main thing that attracted me to Colombia was the core curriculum that they’ve had for about 100 years now, where students with varying academic interests and expertise in different fields have the same core courses such as Literature and Humanities” which for her was a positive because it will allow for her and her fellow scholars to join in discussions relating to the given material – something she thoroughly enjoys.

Another appeal for Sydney was the cosmopolitan city of above 18 million people, where she will have access to art museums such as the distinguished Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)  “I did have in mind that at some point in my life I want to live in New York. I didn’t know that was going to be as soon as I graduated High School, so I’m quite excited about that” said the soon to be freshman.

For her college application preparation, Sydney focused on the things she was interested in like the arts to ensure that that is portrayed in her application and worked diligently on her visual arts portfolio for a year before submitting it as her supplement to her application.

“The American college system is difficult to predict” she stated skeptically, therefore, she advised doing the things you are good at to the best of your ability.

Eye-opening as the process was for her, with her having to do some self-introspection, she also acknowledges how challenging this process can be for students due to juggling IB courses, SATs, or creating portfolios.

But now that the application is complete, it is time to enjoy her new life in her dream city. “I got into Colombia with my best friend! And it’s college - and a new learning experience, but I am excited about meeting new people and experiencing new things,” she said.

Life is going to be a little different without her family and YCIS Beijing friends that she has gotten to know so well in the past few years.

Sydney is currently undecided on which major to pursue since she has until her second year of studying to make up her mind, but she is gravitating towards a double major in Visual Arts, Film or Creative Writing.

With her return to the United States, Sydney Lee, a true global citizen has come full circle!

生活在国外

我们有机会与13年级学生Sydney Lee进行谈话，她从繁忙当中花时间与我们畅谈她的学校生涯，特别是她正在准备前往一个世界上最具声望的高等教育机构—哥伦比亚大学攻读学士学位。

和她在北京耀中的一些同学一样，Sydney在北京定居之前经历了一段以许多国家为家的旅程—在美国生活、且她在韩国、菲律宾度过了一段过渡期，在过去的六年时间里她居住在中国。虽然她对自己两岁时离开美国的记忆已经荡然无存，她对菲律宾的欣赏是出于对自然和城市文化并存的喜爱。

 
她说:“我有很多机会开发对周围事物的兴趣，也有机会接受国际学校的教育。”

一个头脑开放的全球公民

从四岁开始，她就在国外生活，这段经历让这位出生于美国的韩国学生成长为一个充满好奇心、思想开放的人。“我在不同国家的生活经历让我能够以非常开放的心态去尝试不同的事物。这也让我有了一个独特的视角，我很容易就能承认和接受不同人、不同文化的差异。”

校园生活的回忆

她的侨民身份可能也是她能够与同学们打成一片的原因之一，她相信同学们会形容她“冷静、好奇、好学”。这些都是她在这里度过的时光中能够一起留下回忆的同学。“我依旧记得来到北京耀中的第一天，因为它对我的生活来说是一个巨大的变化，”Sydney回忆说。这是她记忆中的第一次移民，因为之前的几次迁移都发生在她还是个小女孩的时候。在这段时间里，她与来自不同国家的同学进行了交流，这与她之前的学校经历形成了鲜明的对比。在她之前的学校经历中，学生从一年级到最后一年都倾向于就读在同一所学校。

 
虽然那是她最难忘的经历之一，但也伴随着一段时间后不得不和朋友们道别的失落。

另一件让Sydney印象深刻的事，是她在一个开放日担任学生大使的时候。在开放日期间，她带领家长们参观了我们的校园和设施，并与他们分享了她为什么喜欢成为北京耀中的学生。对于一个艺术迷来说，这是一个值得骄傲的时刻。
 

创造性思维

艺术完完全全是Sydney的激情和追求，因此，有机会在画廊展出她的作品是值得关注的。“我12年级的时候。第一次在“真正的”画廊里展出我的一幅画。”该画廊是M Woods，一个独立的、非盈利的艺术博物馆，坐落在北京艺术中心，798艺术区。这是一个值得她为之自豪的时刻。

她解释道:“我有创作艺术作品的动力，并在观众与我创作的任艺术作品互动的过程中赋予其价值。”
 
这并不是Sydney的艺术作品第一次被展出。2018年，她的艺术作品登上了《INKBEAT Youth Journal》的封面。《INKBEAT Youth Journal》是一本艺术期刊，展出了北京地区学生的写作和艺术作品，同期刊登作品的还有她的同学Amy Yin。在那期中，她解释说，“最初激发我创作这幅作品的是人类面部表情的复杂性。”就我个人而言，人是我最喜欢的研究对象，因为我一直对人们的工作方式和职责非常感兴趣。”这可能就是她最喜欢研究生物学的原因之一。
 

积极倡导

她对这一学科和倡导的热爱也促使她参与了“生理期项目”，该项目旨在筹集资金并在中国农村提高被剥夺权利的贫困女孩对生理期的认识。在几年前这个概念被引入之后，Sydney和她的同学决定接管这个项目，为社区服务。“我们学校的学生享有一定的特权，这是我们应该承认的。我们决定支持那些处于弱势地位的女孩。”捐赠者表示。

她的参与延伸到了学生领导部门，从9年级开始她就是其中的一名成员，后来成为了一名联合执委。在她任职期间，他们重新启动了学生电影节，参与了慈善工作，甚至与家长组织合作组织了圣诞集市。

哥伦比亚之旅

不可否认的是，上述所有的活动，加上她的学术能力，都促成了她被哥伦比亚大学录取。哥伦比亚大学是一所位于纽约的私立常春藤研究型大学，其校友包括赵小兰(Elaine Chao)、Ruth Bader Ginsberg和Neil deGrasse Tyson等知名人士。

她决定选择纽约的大学。Sydney说“哥伦比亚主要吸引我的是其核心课程,他们现在已经有大约100年的历史,抱有不同的学术兴趣和专长的学生在不同领域需要学习相同的核心课程如：文学和人文课”这对她来说是积极的,因为她将有机会和其他学生共同进行关于既定内容的讨论—这是她最的喜欢的东西。

对Sydney来说，另一个吸引力是那座拥有1800多万人口的国际大都市，在那里她可以参观著名的现代艺术博物馆(MoMA)等艺术博物馆。我没有想到高中一毕业就能有这样的机会，所以我很兴奋。”

为了准备大学申请，Sydney把重点放在了她感兴趣的事情上，比如艺术，以确保能够在她的申请中展示这些东西，并在提交申请前花了一年时间认真研究她的视觉艺术作品集。

“美国大学的申请制度是很难预测的，”她有些疑虑地说，因此，她建议尽你所能做你擅长的事情。

虽然这个过程让她大开眼界，但她也承认，应对IB课程、SAT考试或制作作品集，这些过程对于学生来说是极具挑战性的。

现在申请已经完成，是时候在她梦想的城市享受新生活了。她说:“我和我最好的朋友一起去了哥伦比亚，那是一所大学，是一次全新的学习经历，但我很高兴认识新朋友，体验新事物。” 

没有她的家人和北京耀中的朋友们，她的生活将会有些许不同。

Sydney目前还没有确定选哪个专业，她要学到第二年才会下定决心，但她正在向视觉艺术、电影或创意写作的双学位努力。

随着她回到美国，Sydney Lee，一个真正的全球公民完成了一个完整的循环!